The experts tell us that in human interactions, two people meeting for the first time size one another up and form an opinion of each other in the first seven seconds. In just that short span of time, each determines if the other is a friend or a foe; someone to approach or someone to avoid. Apparently, we take home-buying much more seriously. Because upon pulling up to a house for the first time, buyers take a whole EIGHT seconds to determine if they're going to get out of the car or drive on by.

What does this mean for you as a seller? It means a couple of things. First, in anticipation of all those “internet drive-by” buyers, it’s vital that you use professional photos in your MLS listing, and that the photos taken show your home at its best. As a real estate broker myself, I can tell you that when I’m searching homes for my clients, I know within the first few clicks of the mouse if I’m going to send the listing. If the pictures are unappealing, or if they indicate a complete detachment to the whole house-selling process (think: overflowing garbage bins, curtains half-hanging on windows, a sink full of dirty dishes, stained carpets, or as I saw recently, a half-empty bottle of whiskey and a shot glass), I stop clicking and move on to the next listing. Remember: you only have eight seconds to make a good impression.

Beyond the MLS photos, sellers have to address actual, physical curb appeal. What does a buyer see when he or she pulls up in front of your house? Would their first glimpse be enticing, and cause them to want to see more? The subject of curb appeal always brings to mind one particular home that I drive by every time I’m visiting my friend in New Jersey. She and her husband live in a beautiful 200-year old home in the countryside. The road to their property runs along fence-lined pastures and grazing horses and charming old barns. But just before you reach their home, on one final curve in the road, you come suddenly upon a bizarre sight. For reasons known only to God and this homeowner, the entire front yard is surrounded by a border of dozens and dozens of bowling balls of every color under the sun—orange balls, and purple and and pink balls, and blue balls with sparkly metallic flecks, and rust and cream balls with Jupiter-esque swirls. Each is perched on what looks like a gigantic golf tee, and something about the arrangement makes me think of enormous push-pins sunk in the earth.

​It is NOT attractive. And if you offered me a million dollars, I couldn’t describe the house to you, because I’ve never been able to look at anything but those odd lawn ornaments. Someone really should have been loving enough to say, “No, Bert, I do not think we should edge the front yard with bowling balls.”

Of course, you would never do such a thing. But how is your front door looking? Does it need repainting, or replacing? Is the lawn healthy, or is it full of moss? Could the garden beds use a fresh topping of bark? Did you have time last fall to cut back all the spent blooms and branches? Wouldn’t a little color look nice along the walkway? Enhancing your curb appeal doesn’t have to be an expensive or time-consuming endeavor. Start with the most obvious tasks and work down from there. A little touch-up here, a little clipping and trimming and tidying-up there can make a big difference. In fact, it can make all the difference in whether a would-be buyer lingers … or they dash.

The year was 1989, and I was just about to learn the meaning of the word “boom.”

We’d met one afternoon with a real estate agent who advised us that if we wanted to sell our Silver Lake home, we needed to paint the living room, re-stain the deck, and put fresh bark over the flower beds. She forbade me to stencil any more walls and left with a promise to add us to the MLS first thing in the morning.

We ordered the bark to be delivered the next day, ran to the store for paint, and came home to tackle the list. First up: painting the living room. While Dave went to the garage for a drop cloth, I opened the first can of whitely-white, whitey-white-white paint … and promptly spilled the entire contents on our dark rust carpet.

Want to know the formula for getting white paint out of rust carpet? All you need is two hours + two frantic sellers with scrub brushes + about two bathtubs-worth of the hottest, soapiest water you can get your hands on. It’s that simple.

When we were done, you couldn’t tell there’d ever been a spill. (This would be a good spot to tell you about a more recent incident in which I dumped an entire bucket of white paint on my head while moving a ladder, but that will have to wait for another column.)

We ran back to the store for more paint … which Dave forbade me to touch … and I watched while he painted the room. And even though I detest white paint on principle (who doesn’t like color?), I had to admit that the room felt bigger, fresher and calmer with that simple layering of white paint. Standing in our living room late that night, I wished we had done it much sooner, and I wondered how long I might enjoy our new room before someone bought our house and took that enjoyment for themselves.

Apparently, not long. Our house hit the market at 10:00 the next morning and by noon, five buyers and their agents were standing in our yard and driveway (next to the just-delivered bark we hadn’t had time to spread), and two of them were writing up offers on the hoods of their cars. Thus, my introduction to the real estate boom of 1989.

If you’re considering selling your home in 2015, my suggestion is this: make those repairs sooner rather than later so you get a chance to enjoy them yourself.

You probably have a good list going in your head. There’s the burned out light bulb in the pantry. There’s that one window with the big ding where your son threw an errant poker chip two summers ago. (Not that I have firsthand experience or anything.) There’s the door knob that jiggles, and the rickety cupboard door, and the missing hardware on a kitchen drawer. Those things are driving you crazy, aren’t they? You’d never sell your house with those little irritants in place, because if they annoy you, they’ll annoy your buyers. I recently took some clients to an otherwise lovely home which unfortunately had a kitchen full of barely-clinging cupboard doors. The husband opened one door (and they all open doors, just so you know), felt the wiggle, and proceeded to test each and every cupboard door. He and I are still talking about those cupboard doors.

Maybe your list includes more substantial items, like replacing the garage door or laying new carpet. (Actually, how about if we go with hardwood? Most buyers love hardwood.)

There’s no good reason why you shouldn’t have a little time with the new window and the fresh paint and the fixed cupboard doors before someone else owns them. So do yourself a favor and tackle the list one item at a time. At the very least, you’ll be in a great position to sell when the time comes.

And who knows? With all those problems gone and a facelift in place, you may just fall in love with your home all over again and decide to keep it for yourself.

Happy 2015! As always, new years mean new resolutions. Soon, we'll see joggers in their spanking new running shoes trudging and panting along roads and trails. Registration at the YMCA will skyrocket, and for a little while, fitness center parking lots will be full of hopeful exercisers. You have to love the collective optimism that binds us all together every January. And who knows? Maybe this is the year we'll all lose those unwanted pounds for good.

But this post isn't about diet or exercise. This post is a plea for resolutions from a different group of people: home buyers.

When working with buyers, the role of your agent is a combination of counselor, teacher, warrior and cheerleader. He or she will do everything they can to negotiate a good deal for you and secure the home you want. To that end, some things make the job easier (and result in an easier transaction for you). Consider the following resolutions a gentle nudge from someone who has your best interests in mind:

1. I will get pre-approved by a lender before beginning the search for a new home, and I will resist the urge to look at homes priced higher than what I am pre-approved to buy.

Why? A pre-approval letter makes you look both ready and serious (and therefore more attractive) to a seller. In a multiple-offer situation, a buyer with a pre-approval has a giant advantage over one without. As to staying within your price boundaries, the simple fact is that looking at more expensive homes only makes you discontent with the homes you can afford.

2. I will resist the temptation to search for homes on one of the popular apps, but will instead search real estate websites.

Why? Sites like Zillow and Trulia are not run by realtors; they’re run by marketers who make their money by attracting as many people as they can to their sites. To do this, they will often keep homes on the site long after they’ve been sold. This keeps their inventory high (which attracts more homebuyers), but also creates frustration. Why get your hopes up about a house that actually sold three weeks ago? When you confine your search to actual real estate websites, you can be sure that the status of the home you see is in real time. Also, real estate agents and firms see new listings on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) immediately. It can take up to nine days for a listing to appear on Zillow and Trulia. And in this market, you can’t afford to be nine days late.

​3. I will make a priority list that includes one or two deal-breakers (such as size or location), then a few high-wants (such as an upgraded kitchen or a bonus room), and finally a short list of things that would be nice, but aren’t necessary … and I won’t reject a house based on those bottom items.

Why? You don’t want to lose an otherwise wonderful house simply because you don’t like the cabinets.

4. I will keep in mind that no home is perfect, and no home will have everything I’m looking for.

Why? Buyers often believe that the perfect house is out there and our job is to track it down. In actuality, even people who build their own homes from the ground up (and I am one of those) will tell you that they would change a dozen things if they could do it over. Aim instead for a 90 percent perfect home.

5. I will trust that when my realtor says, “We need to see this house now,” he or she knows what they’re talking about, and I will make the effort to see the homes my realtor suggests.

Why? In a seller’s market, or in a market with low inventory, homes can be snatched up quickly. Your realtor knows when time is of the essence.

There you have it … just a short list of five good-for-you home-buying resolutions. And you didn’t even have to break a sweat.

The mortgage website HSH.com posted an interesting article this week in which it estimated the salary needed in order to afford a house (including principal and interest, taxes and insurance) in 27 U.S. cities. With the average home price at $359,900 (up 3.5% from last month and 8.2% from this time last year) and a monthly mortgage of $1752.29, Seattle ranked 7th among major U.S. cities. Want to own an average home in Seattle? You'll need to aim for a salary of $75,098.06.